As Twitter tries to subscription-ize its biz model, Elon Musk takes on Apple's "app tax"

Elon is tech’d off with Apple… and (as usual) he’s taken the beef to Twitter. On Monday the billionaire CEO posted a series of tweets accusing Apple of everything from threatening free speech to not being transparent about its censorship practices. But Elon’s core issues with Apple might be financial:

• Ad spend: Elon said Apple has “mostly stopped” advertising on Twitter. FYI: Apple was Twitter’s #1 advertiser in Q1 of this year, spending a reported $48M in that quarter alone.
• App spend: Elon also criticized Apple’s “app tax,” the ~30% cut of in-app purchases, downloads, and subs that Apple takes across apps in its store.
• Now: Elon said Apple is threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store “but won’t tell us why.” Apple typically revokes App Store access when companies violate its policies.

Battle of the MVPs… Musk wants to make Twitter profitable and diversify revenue beyond ads, which make up 90% of Twitter's sales (but have been sagging). Last year Twitter launched its Twitter Blue subscription, which includes perks like early access to new features (think: tweet-editing). This month, Twitter hiked the price of the sub to $8/month — and made it a requirement for users who want to gain the coveted blue checkmark. But Apple's 30% cut could strike a blow to Twitter’s non-ad sales — and its goal of doubling revenue by 2023.